Accessible menu: readable for all guests

Font size and contrast

An accessible menu starts with readability. Older guests, people with visual impairments, and anyone who has forgotten their reading glasses benefit from the same basic rules:

• Sufficiently large font for dishes and prices, smaller font only for minor details.
• Strong contrast: dark text on a light background or vice versa, no light gray text on beige.
• Simple fonts for the text, decorative fonts at most for headings.
• No text over busy photos or patterns.

For websites, there is an accepted standard: the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which recommend a minimum ratio between text and background color. Same-QR calculates this ratio when changing colors and warns if the text would not be legible on the table. Only when the colors are correct can the menu be saved.

Clear structure

Accessibility also means: The menu is easy to understand. Clear categories, a logical order, and short descriptions help all guests – people with cognitive impairments as well as tourists or tired guests after a long day.

• Unique headings instead of creative wordplay.
• One dish per line, price always in the same place.
• Simple language in the descriptions, explain technical terms briefly.

Allow mobile zoom

A major advantage of the digital menu: Guests can enlarge the text using their phone's settings or have the menu read aloud. However, this only works if the menu is available as text. A photographed PDF or an image of the menu cannot be meaningfully enlarged or read aloud.

A menu as a webpage that adapts to the screen width is clearly at an advantage here. The hosted menus are provided as text and adapt to the screen.

Allergens understandable

Abbreviations like A, C, G are space-saving but only understandable with a legend. The legend should be clearly legible and not appear in tiny font at the end of the last page. On the digital menu from Same-QR, it is located directly below the menu, in the language of the guest's mobile phone, and only includes the allergens that actually appear on the menu.

Personal assistance

No menu replaces attentive staff. If someone notices that a guest is having difficulty with the menu, they offer help – without fuss. A menu with large print, reading out the daily specials, or a short recommendation can save the evening.

• Keep some menus in large print ready.
• Also mention daily deals orally.
• Be prepared for wheelchair users, guide dogs, and companions.

Quick test for your menu

• Read the menu in dim light without glasses.
• Enlarge the font on your mobile phone in the settings and open the digital menu: Is it still legible?
• Have the menu read aloud on your mobile phone: Does it make sense?
• Ask a regular customer what bothers them.

These four tests together take a quarter of an hour and reveal the biggest hurdles. Often, small changes are sufficient after that so that significantly more guests can read your menu comfortably.

Frequently asked questions